A 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court decided Friday that Trump cannot take core powers that the Constitution gives Congress. Instead, Congress must delegate any such power clearly and unambiguously.

This is a big decision. It goes far beyond merely interpreting the 1997 International Emergency Economic Powers Act not to give Trump the power over tariffs that he claims to have. It reaffirms a basic constitutional principle about the division and separation of powers between Congress and the president.

On its face, this decision clarifies that Trump cannot decide on his own not to spend money Congress has authorized and appropriated—such as the funds for USAID he refused to spend. And he cannot on his own decide to go to war.

"The court has long expressed 'reluctan[ce] to read into ambiguous statutory test' extraordinary delegations of Congress' powers," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for himself and five other justices in the opinion released Friday in Learning Resources v. Trump.

He continued, "In several cases involving 'major questions,' the court has reasoned that 'both separation of powers principles and a practical understanding of legislative intent' suggest Congress would not have delegated 'highly consequential power' through ambiguous language."

Exactly. Trump has no authority on his own to impose tariffs, because the Constitution gives that authority to Congress.

But by the same Supreme Court logic, Trump has no authority to impound money Congress has appropriated because the Constitution has given Congress the "core congressional power of the purse," as the court stated Friday.

Hence, the $410-425 billion in funding that Trump has blocked or delayed violates the Impoundment Control Act, which requires congressional approval for spending pauses. This includes funding withheld for foreign aid, FEMA, Head Start, Harvard and Columbia universities, and public health.

Nor, by this same Supreme Court logic, does Trump have authority to go to war because Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to "declare........

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